[FurnaceFace]

I live in Shaganappi, just south of the same golf course so I care about this line. Bus service where I am sucks as the buses (especially in the winter) are full to capacity in the morning or the buses which aren't full don't stop at our stop (I'm looking at you 301). I moved into my house 10 years ago and before we bought I did my due diligence on the LRT line. I knew it was proposed to go up Bow somehow, however the details were missing.

I believe a lot of the hue and cry is due to people feeling they weren't consulted on the line. The renderings of the elevated track over Crowchild available at the open house looked scary ugly to be honest. That meeting was pretty wild because it seemed full of people who were just there to complain about things that looked fine to me.

I think there are certain things which could be changed which would help ridership, traffic flow and aesthetics:

1) I don't agree with a median LRT track up Bow Trail, that to me would affect traffic capacity. It's already an extremely busy road at rush hour and the LRT taking up what could be a 3rd lane or limiting any growth is not the best approach in my mind.
2) They are tunneling it under Westbrook, I'd fully support they tunnel it all the way up Bow trail. This alleviates the level crossing issue and allows for Bow trail expansion - basically does away with the issue I have in #1. It would also improve traffic flow and hopefully result in less disruption to Bow trail during construction. I believe this was in the plans at one point but was scrapped. I also believe The City already owns a vacant lot at Bow (12th ave) and 26th St which would serve as a south entrance into the underground station.
3) tunneling would alleviate the need for the elevated track. I'm not sure if Sunalta would get a station however they don't seem to care about getting one some that's ok.

As a citizen of the area I would be quite content to pay an extra charge on my taxes for an underground line.

I would also point out those of us in the west have helped pay for the rest of the LRT lines so we should get our pound of flesh now too - within reason of course.